The Influence Of Teachers’ Transformational Leadership On Students’ English Achievement

The concept of transformational leadership was initially introduced by leadership expert and presidential biographer James Mac Gregor Burns in 1978. According to Burns, transformational leadership can be seen when "leaders and followers make each other to advance to a higher level of moral and motivation." Transformational leadership is gradually applicable to the study of teacher behavior and has become a hot issue in the western educational sector.However, there is little research on the behavior of teachers’ transformational leadership in college classroom at home. This paper, based on Burns’ s(1978) transformational leadership theory and supported by Bass’ s(1985) four dimensions of the construct, is to identify the students’ perception of English teachers’ transformational leadership in college classroom in China, and further to examine the relationship between students’ perception of English teachers’ transformational leadership and students’ English achievement reflected by the scores of CET-4. Through analysis and discussion, the main conclusions of this study as follows:1. Teachers at home have certain transformational leadership behavior in the classroom.2. Students’ perception of English teachers’ classroom transformational leadership is correlated with students’ English achievement. The transformational leadership behaviors that students perceived have differences in Bass’ s(1985) four dimensions.3. There is significant difference between students’ perception of English teachers’ classroom transformational leadership on High-score group and Low-score group.Findings show that transformational teachers have the power of expression and a strong sense of responsibility. They can work with students on a individual level to meet their developmental needs and help them make progress in their studies.